Through this augmented reality (AR) installation, the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum becomes a space where Indigenous presence, creativity, and stories are centered. ENCODED is a celebration: an invitation to join a ceremonial act of remembering and reimagining. Through 3D digital technologies, the exhibition challenges past propaganda embedded in American art history to open space for dialogue about truth, history, and representation today.
Launching on Indigenous Peoples’ Day 2025, seventeen Indigenous artists from across Turtle Island, also known as North America, bring new stories to the American Wing. Using augmented reality and immersive sound, these works engage directly with the museum’s permanent collection of American paintings and sculptures, reclaiming space, expanding narratives, and opening conversations as the American Wing marks its 100th anniversary.
Grounded in artistic practice and dialogue, this intervention invites visitors to slow down, look deeper, and experience the museum’s collection in new ways. It creates a dialogue between artists and visitors, activists and allies, past and future generations.
This is more than an ephemeral exhibition. It is a movement of many movements: this exhibition extends beyond the museum as a reminder of what has always been here and is an offering of a collective imagination towards a shared future.
ENCODED takes place on Lenapehokin, the traditional homeland of the Lenape people.
AN INDIGENOUS AR INTERVENTION
*
AN INDIGENOUS AR INTERVENTION *
FEATURED ARTISTS
Amelia Winger-Bearskin →
Bear Fox →
Bird x Bird →
Cannupa Hanska Luger →
Cass Gardiner →
Demian DinéYazhi´ →
Lite Brite Neon
Flechas
Jarrette Werk →
Jeremy Dennis →
Josué Rivas →
Katsitsionni Fox →
Lokotah Sanborn →
Mali Obomsawin →
Mer Young →
Nicholas Galanin →
Priscilla Dobler Dzul →
& Skawennati →
AND CO-CURATED BY
-
CO-CURATOR
Tracy Rector is a mixed-heritage filmmaker, curator, and community organizer rooted in Turtle Island.
For nearly forty years, she has collaborated on over 500 films and projects amplifying the voices of Indigenous, Black, Communities of Color, and Queer peoples. Her work has screened on Independent Lens, PBS, National Geographic, and ImagineNative, and at festivals including Sundance, Cannes, and Toronto. Beyond film, Tracy has served as a Seattle Arts Commissioner and holds leadership roles with Working Films, Multitude Films, and the Harvard Kennedy School Advisory Council. She is co-director of 4th World Media, dedicated to justice, culture, and collective creativity.
See the Experience
TRY FOR YOURSELF
To experience ENCODED: Change the Story, Change the Future, simply scan the QR code to download AMPLIFIER AR. This portal unlocks artworks by Indigenous artists – some newly commissioned, others adapted specifically for this AR experience – expanding and reframing the story of American art history in The Met’s American Wing.
Click each artwork below to view it full size, then scan using your phone’s camera within the app.
EDUCATION AMPLIFIER
EDUCATION AMPLIFIER
JARRETTE WERK
Register for the Education Amplifier program to receive free teaching tools to use in your students' learning.
The Education Amplifier program is committed to amplifying the voices of social change movements through art and community engagement by creating meaningful ways for educators and their students to join the conversation.
ABOUT AMPLIFIER
Amplifier is a nonprofit design lab that builds art and media campaigns to amplify the most important movements of our time.
Through bold visual storytelling and strategic distribution, we shift culture and change national narratives. Since 2015, Amplifier has commissioned over 400 artists and distributed millions of artworks—reaching activists, educators, policymakers, and students across the country. By blending analog and digital media, Amplifier turns artists into activists and observers into participants.
Each campaign is a compass toward justice, equality, and truth—reclaiming an American identity rooted in dignity and diversity. Amplifier’s campaigns reach over 20 million viewers on average. Join us in building a more just and beautiful future.
This exhibition is made possible by the generous support of an Indigenous funder and Pop Culture Collaborative, and through the efforts of a multicultural and multinational team of artists, technologists, organizers, and collaborators.
CREDITS | Aaron Huey (Immersive Design Director), Alex Neville (Senior Digital Producer), Alison Lucker (Business Director), Beth Koulyras (Developer), Cleo Barnett (Executive Director of Amplifier), Eris Pavaje (AR Technician), Faye Orlove (Design Director), Florencia Franceschetti (Production Manager), Isabella Sisneros (Operations Director), Juan Mateo Menendez (AR Animator), Julieta Renteria (Program Coordinator), Keorattana Luangrathrajasombat (AR Technician), Lukasz Karluk (Technical Director), Maribel Gonzales (Education Manager), Milosz Karluk (Graphic Designer), Paige Lester (Production Lead), Stephany Torres (Production Manager), Stu Campbell (Art Director), Thomas Wimberly (Design Director), Tracy Rector (Co-Curator), Zandie Brockett 张桂才 (Executive Producer).